Unknown vandals damage murals in San Juan

Three murals decorating the upscale Santurce sector of the Puerto Rican capital on Tuesday morning were found to have been damaged with white paint after last weekend the same thing happened to a mural devoted to the late salsa singer Ismael Rivera.

The partially-destroyed works are by Mexican artist Neuzz, Puerto Rico's own Alexis Diaz and Belgium artist Roa.

The recently-damaged murals now join the one by Rivera that was partially damaged on the weekend with white paint thrown onto one of the faces of the dead "salsero" in the work, and the wall was destroyed so that it could be rebuilt.

Moncho Rivera, the nephew of Rivera, said the motive for the act of vandalism against the mural was unknown. The work was painted by Joffre Marchand in 1988 and restored by Celso Gonzalez five years ago.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, called the act of vandalism "a bad moment." He had done the restoration of the mural for free, but he said he was optimistic that the wall will be rebuilt so that a new mural can be placed there. EFE